Pender County, North Carolina

• Income near the national median: Median household income tracks the national median, indicating a broad-based consumer market.
• Cost of living stretches income further: Local prices run 3.6% below the national average, so the nominal median of $80,396 is worth $83,398 at national average prices. BEA publishes price parity at metro level, not county level.
• Talent gap: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment trails the national average by 5.1 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• Aging population: Median age of 42 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest private-sector industry: Retail Trade employs 2,104 workers (20.6% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $32,747. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 2,649 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $2.5B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services averages $77,887 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $20,908, a 3.7x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Crop Production concentrates at 5.54x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 13 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 38.7% of the employment across them, the largest being visitor economy. Demand reaches this base from more than one market rather than from a single one.

• In line with national: Home value to income ratio of 3.7x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 82.7% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 20.6% of housing units are vacant, above the North Carolina rate of 12.5%, and down from 25.1% in 2019.
• Mostly second homes: seasonal, recreational and occasional-use units are 59.7% of vacant units, so the headline rate is not available supply.
• Genuinely available supply: units listed for rent or for sale are 11.5% of the vacant stock, or 2.4% of all housing units against the 20.6% headline vacancy rate. Absorbable supply for an incoming employer is thin, and the gap between the two is the redevelopment and conversion opportunity.
• Affordable rent tiers: 3 of 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom sizes sit below what a household on the median renter income of $48,925 can pay without cost burden (~$1,223/mo), and 45% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Succession risk is real: 23.8% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Healthy participation: 60.9% labor force participation reflects a steady, available local workforce.
• Talent pipeline: no college, university, or technical school is located in Pender County per the IPEDS institutional directory, so any training pipeline serving it runs through institutions outside the county.

Pender County shows strong potential for crop production attraction, with a 5.54x concentration and 273 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 23.8% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans crop production, rental and leasing services, and animal production and aquaculture, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 38.7% of the employment across them, the largest being visitor economy. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.